Titans’ Rishard Matthews: I’ll Leave Football If They Make Me Stand For Anthem

Careful what you wish for, you just might get it. Liberals are infamous for threatening to leave the country if the wrong person is elected as president. They almost never do, sadly. Now, that threat has moved to the NFL. Tennessee Titans wide receiver Rishard Matthews is threatening to quit the NFL if he is forced to stand for the National Anthem. Oh, please do! Just do it! Then don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. He made the threat yesterday when asked by Matt Parker, a local Nashville producer, on Twitter whether he would stay in the locker room, or take the fine or penalty for kneeling during the anthem. Matthews’ profile picture on Twitter features his half-brother, Christopher Ruiz, who died in Afghanistan in 2015.

Matthews said this in answer to the question… it was captured by Clay Travis of Outkick the Coverage, before Matthews deleted it: “No I will be done playing football.” Let’s see if he’s man enough, or radical racist enough, to stand by that statement. I double-dog dare him to quit. He’s vowing to throw a tantrum and quit if he doesn’t get his way. How mature. Should he keep his word, it will cost him millions. He would be walking away from football permanently like Colin Kaepernick. If he’s that repulsed by America, he needs to go and stay gone. He’s paid over $6.3 million and hates his country. Go figure.

Matthews, who hit the field for the Titans’ Thursday afternoon practice, quickly deleted the tweet. He was not available for the media during locker room availability either. Matthews father served for 23 years in the Marines. As I said before, his brother, another Marine, died in Afghanistan two years ago. Even so, Matthews has been vocal in his stance against racial injustice and police brutality. He obviously supports Black Lives Matter. His protest was launched shortly after President Donald Trump’s attacks toward NFL players who choose to protest. Matthews previously refrained from protesting out of respect for his brother, but after Trump’s comments, he said his brother would understand his intentions going forward. I very much doubt that.

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The NFL and NFL Players Association released a joint statement Wednesday confirming that there has been no change to the policy that recommends, but doesn’t require, players to stand for the anthem. Commissioner Roger Goodell, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and player leadership will attend league meetings next week to discuss how to move forward on social issues and they will discuss the subject of protesting during the anthem as well. The Titans remained in the locker room during the anthem before their Week 3 game against the Seattle Seahawks. Matthews, the Titans’ leading receiver, has remained in the locker room alone during the past two games, while the rest of the team stood for the anthem.

Last month, Matthews pledged to donate $75,000 to organizations that support oppressed communities, just like Colin Kaepernick, who led the charge of NFL players protesting by taking a knee during the anthem. “Moving forward, I don’t want this to be a publicity stunt,” Matthews told ESPN last month. “I don’t want to take away from what the whole protest is about, which is oppression, police brutality and inequality in this country. I fully stand with my brother Kap, and I plan to continue to do that. I’m tired of hearing, ‘Stick to sports.’ It comes down to right and wrong in this world,” Matthews said. “If you see wrong and don’t say anything, that’s wrong. As minorities, what do you want to happen before we say anything? They tried to have a silent protest, and look what happened. It’s your right to stand or sit down. You have that right, that freedom of speech, and you’re not allowing that to happen.” This isn’t about freedom of speech, it’s about militant racism, cop-hatred and communism. I say good riddance and just go.

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton is an editor and writer for Right Wing News. She owns and blogs at NoisyRoom.net. She is a Constitutional Conservative and NoisyRoom focuses on political and national issues of interest to the American public. Terresa is the editor at Trevor Loudon's site, New Zeal - trevorloudon.com. She also does research at KeyWiki.org. You can email Terresa here. NoisyRoom can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.